story

a

southern girl

from mississippi

fell in love

with an uppity british subject

from bombay

at a college

in the sticks of kentucky

mixed breeds

mango trees and watermelons

hindu gods and bible thumpers

afternoon tea and soda in a glass bottle

from Malcom's General Store

priveleged class and hands-in-the-dirt-squeezing-a-cow's-teat farming

mix it all up

and take it to jersey

the suburb of new york city

8 or 9 million people

6 lane highways

children produced

listening to british and southern accents

telling them what to do

pastor's kids

on display

as examples

i've eaten plenty

of southern fried chilcken

black eyed peas

and watermelon

picked right off the vine

i've been to homecomings

claimed as kin by branches

of a dense family tree

i've fished in man-made ponds

dodged water-moccasins

and cow patties in the fields

but the far-off land

with marble tombs

and sacred cows in the streets

reamins a mystery

pages missing

from my father's biography

blank entries

in my psychic photo album

stories untold

paragraphs unwritten

i may never know

the rest

of the story.